


I'm Alive, I'm Right Behind You

by that_one_british_alien_from_doctor_who (nancynotruth)



Series: I'm Alive [1]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, But the Doctor thinks she is, Confusion, F/F, Girls Kissing, Hurt/Comfort, Kissing, No Smut, Reunions, Reunited and It Feels So Good, River isn't a Data Ghost, Title taken from a song, Yeah I used that to my advantage, You know how in gay fanfic everyone has the same pronouns?, may be ooc but I really really really tried, there should really be a tag for that, there's a gigantic ice spider named Danley, yaz is very frustrated, you can see her too? fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-24
Updated: 2020-02-24
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:34:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22885612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nancynotruth/pseuds/that_one_british_alien_from_doctor_who
Summary: “Wait,” the Doctor yelled, unfreezing and holding up her hands with such force that even the Tardis stopped moaning. “Wait, wait, wait. Who are you all talking to?”“That woman,” Ryan said, as Yaz groaned again and tugged on her hair still harder. “She’s right there! Like, completely pressed up against your body. How are you not seeing her?”“Of course I’m seeing her,” the Doctor said, in her stupid humans never know anything voice, looking directly at the woman with the curly blonde hair, who smiled back at her. “You aren’t. "
Relationships: The Doctor/River Song, Thirteenth Doctor/River Song
Series: I'm Alive [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1646245
Comments: 41
Kudos: 380





	I'm Alive, I'm Right Behind You

The Doctor rushed into the Tardis, cheeks bright red and hair in complete disarray, great drifts of snow falling from her body and onto the Tardis floor with every step.

“Don’t…ever…let…me…do _that_ again!” She panted, doubling over to rest her forearms on her knees, breathing heavily. Her companions (or _fam,_ as they reluctantly agreed to be called) looked on, bemused.

“I doubt we’ll ever again be in a situation requiring you to outrun a 155 meter tall Ice Tarantula to ensure the continued safety of the Vole People,” Graham said, deadpan. 

“You’d be surprised,” the Doctor said. “I’ve actually done this before, only then…”

“It was a 100 meter Sand Crab,” said a woman in the corner of the Tardis, and everyone (save the Doctor herself) turned to look as she stepped forward into the light. Her curly blonde hair puffed out from under a stylish beret, and despite all odds her snowsuit highlighted her every curve. She smiled and waved at the Doctor’s new companions, enjoying the attention. “Hello, Sweetie,” she said. “You can’t keep a bad girl down, and I’m the baddest of them all.”

“It was a 100 meter Sand Crab,” the Doctor repeated, as though the woman had never spoken,beginning to flip various levers around the Tardis console. 

“Doctor,” Yaz said, “Who is…”

“Don’t talk, very busy,” the Doctor said, waving her hands about to demonstrate her busyness. “I have to land the Tardis at exactly the right time and place so I can run across the finish line before she has a chance, and the old girl here can be quite obstinate.” The Tardis made a disgruntled wheezing sound. “Oh, shut up, you. You know it’s true.”

“But what should we do about _her?_ ” Ryan asked, gesturing towards the new arrival. “Do you even know who she is?” 

“I suppose she’ll try and find another village to terrorize,” the Doctor said. “Ice Spiders can survive on anything, really, just so long as they keep eating. I’ll try and point her to the southwest, there’s a huge dump with centuries worth of litter she can eat.” The Doctor scrunched her nose up to show her disgust at littering. “And as for knowing who she is, it’s not like I had a really long chat with her, but I think that gigantic ice spider with a taste for Vole People is pretty self explanatory, don’t you?” 

“Her name is Danley,” said the woman. While the fam had been talking to the Doctor, she’d quietly hung her beret on a post and begun flicking levers on the Tardis console along with the Doctor, who didn’t even seem to know she was there.

“I’m not talking about spider,” Yaz said, annoyance creeping up on her. If this woman was the good kind, fine. If she wasn’t (and experience pointed to the second option), Yaz had a bobby stick and wasn’t afraid to use it.

“Well, Yaz,” the Doctor said patronizingly, flicking a final lever. The Tardis’ main column began to move, but the trademark whooshing sound never came. “I think we should save all conversations that aren’t about the spider for _after_ the spider is no longer a threat, right?” 

“I give up,” Yaz said, throwing her hands in the air. 

“A fine idea,” the strange woman said. “He’s never done well under pressure."  


The Doctor made an almost undetectable harrumphing sound, but never so much as glanced the strange woman’s way. 

“He?” Graham asked. “Who’s he?” 

“Oh dear,” the woman said, “I’ve forgotten again. Do you know, I checked the box for black on all of my forms for nearly a decade after my second regeneration.” 

“You forgot what? You did _what?”_ Yaz nearly shouted, tugging at her hair in mounting frustration. She was so sick of every conversation in the Tardis going straight over her head, that she didn’t even notice how the Doctor froze, hand halfway to pull down on yet another leaver. 

“How long have you been traveling with her, now?” The woman asked, smirking as she stepped around the Doctor’s motionless body and pushed up on the leaver (which was clearly marked _pull_ on a yellow sticky note in circular Gallifreyan). “You should be used to a little intrigue. You certainly would be if I’d been around.” 

“We’ve been traveling with the Doctor for almost six months, on and off,” Graham answered. 

“How do you know her?” Ryan asked at the same time.

“Will someone please tell me what is going on?” Yaz yelled over the boys. The Tardis began to rumble again, groaning and huffing. The woman didn’t even try to respond, just smiled a little enigmatic smile that Yaz wanted to slap off her face. 

“Wait,” the Doctor yelled, unfreezing and holding up her hands with such force that even the Tardis stopped moaning. “Wait, wait, wait. Who are you all talking to?” 

“That woman,” Ryan said, as Yaz groaned again and tugged on her hair still harder. “She’s right there! Like, completely pressed up against your body. How are you not seeing her?” 

“Of course _I’m_ seeing her,” the Doctor said, in her _stupid humans never know anything_ voice, looking directly at the woman with the curly blonde hair, who smiled back at her. “ _You_ aren’t. You can’t possibly be seeing her. There must be something wrong with the Tardis matrix. It did something like this, back when I had the great hair. Oh, it was _great_ hair. The Tardis tapped into the psychic connection and started manifesting images of someone I’d lost, but never to this extent. Just things like her waving out of a screen or walking past me on the street or something. Then, of course….never mind.” She was talking faster and faster, turning knobs and dials until her hands were a blur. “Can you still see her?” She asked. 

“Yes,” Ryan said. 

“Yeah,” Yaz said. 

“Same,” sad Graham. 

“Oh, your hair was wonderful,” said the woman. “But run a brush through this, and it could almost be better.” She combed her fingers through the Doctor’s hair, and the Doctor crumpled to the ground as though she’d been hit by a sledgehammer. She curled her knees to her chest, wrapped her arms around them, and tucked her head until her face was completely hidden, but the Tardis occupants could still her her muffled sobs. 

“Sweetie,” the woman said, the teasing note leaving her voice for the first time, crouching down next to the Doctor. “It’s me. It’s really, truly me. If I knew you’d be so upset, I never would have surprised you like this.”

“Is it gone yet?” The Doctor asked, hugging her knees still tighter. “Tell me when it’s gone.” 

“Ma’am,” Yaz said, stepping forward, instantly reverting to her police manner. “I’m going to need you to step back.” 

The woman turned halfway to face Yaz, still crouching on the ground, leaving one hand on the Doctor’s shaking shoulder. With the other, she pulled a futuristic-looking pistol out of nowhere and aimed it at Yaz’s heart in one fluid movement. “No,” she said, shaking her head empathetically, her hair bouncing with the motion. “I will not be going anywhere. My wife needs me, and I will not leave her side until she knows I’m here for her.” 

“Your…what?” Ryan asked, backing up slowly. He’d developed a healthy respect for futuristic-looking pistols during his time with the Doctor. 

“My wife!” She said, her hair bobbing more and more violently. “I don’t care that she hasn’t told you about me, I don’t care that she thinks I’m dead, I don’t care that she hasn’t answered any of my messages, and I do not care that it took me two thousand years to get out of the Library and another five hundred to find her. My name,” she said, “is Melody Pond, and I am the woman who loves the Doctor. And maybe, _maybe,_ one day, she will love me back. And I swear that I will stay by her side until she _knows_ that I am here.” 

“I do,” the Doctor whispered, lifting her head ever so slightly. Her cheeks were stained with tears and possibly mascara, though it was anybody’s guess how she managed to put it on.

“You do?” The woman (Melody?) asked. 

“I do love you. I have _always_ loved you, River. Ever since the first day in the Library.” 

“You couldn’t have,” the woman (Melody? River?) said, involuntarily lowering the gun. “You didn’t even know me, then.” 

  
“And the first day we met, you were going to marry me,” the Doctor replied, unwrapping her arms from her knees. “And then you killed me.”

“Sweetie, does that _really_ matter?” The woman asked, her old confidence creeping back into her voice. “I brought you back.”

“Oh, River,” the Doctor whispered before launching herself at the woman, who dropped the gun completely to wrap her arms around the Doctor, and then they were snogging like randy teenagers. Graham had to turn away, and Yaz punched Ryan’s arm until he did the same, before grabbing the gun from the floor and turning away herself. It wouldn’t do to have the Doctor set off the gun by rolling over it, or something asinine like that. 

And then they waited for the wet kissing sound to stop. And waited. Ryan took out his phone and began playing the bubble shooter game. Still, they waited. Just as Yaz was about to interrupt the kissing spree to remind the Doctor that the gigantic Ice Spider was still on the loose, the Doctor finally spoke. 

“Fam,” she said, and when they turned back they were relieved to see the two women vertical with their lips detached. “Meet my wife, River Song. She’s sorry she’s late, but I hear traffic was hell.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!! Kudos and comments are chicken soup for this poor author's soul. Also, if you recognized the Sherlock Holmes (books, not tv show) reference, drop me a line and I'll drop you a bonus scene :) Check out the next two works in the series for the already written bonus works.


End file.
